“This is the biggest black carp that we are aware of that has ever been caught in the U.S.," said Whitledge. "We don’t often see very large fish like this of this species. It was a pretty interesting find for all of us when we heard about it.”

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources pays fishermen to turnover black carp so student researchers can study the species.

“This fish is helpful to us because it adds sort of a unique individual from the population that we don’t see very often," Whitledge said.